The New Hampshire Gazette

Extract of a Letter from the Nore. Oct. 18.

As many worthy hearts will be painfully afflicted with the supposed wretchedness of the Havannah widows, set forth in a paragraph in some news papers of the 10th and 11th inst. I beg leave as some alleviation of their misery, to acquaint them, that the widow of any officer or private man, in his Majesty's fleet, slain in action, is entitled to a full year's pay, according to the post her husband was in at the time of his death, and one third of such pay is allowed to each orphan, and posthumous children are deemed orphans: further if the party slain has no widow, but a mother who is indigent, a widow, and above fifty years of age, at the time her son was slain, she is allowed a bounty equal to a widow's.

I hope, though I dare not conclude, that the families of land officers and soldiers slain in battle, also receive some compensation. It is necessary to add, that the widows of officers in both services have pensions, those of the land fixed, those of the sea fluctuating, tho sometimes, indeed, the ebb is extremely low.